Wednesday, 30 November 2016

Hi Everyone! It's Alison here today, with Frosty! When we were making samples for last week's Hochanda TV show, I had a lot of fun turning a That's Crafty! Surfaces Lightbulb Upright into a festive snowman.

Yarn & Knitting Needles (if you're not a knitter, you could create a hat from card, and a scarf with ribbon)

What I did...

1. I began by stencilling the front and base of the light bulb upright with Grunge Paste and the Bubble Wrap Dinky Stencil. I did it a section at a time, drying it off with a heat gun as I went. Make sure that you don't put any on the tab that goes into the base though!

2. Next, I painted the whole thing with a couple of coats of Snowflake Fresco Finish Acrylic. Before the second coats of paint were dry, I sprinkled the front and base all over with the Shabby White embossing enamel, then melted it with a heat gun. There are bits of silver glitter and chunky gold embossing enamel in the Shabby White, which makes for a gorgeous effect.

3. In my stash, I found some black buttons for the eyes and 'buttons', some tiny red buttons for the mouth, and an orange folky heart for the nose. I glued these on with matte medium, adding a few buttons to the base also.

4. Finally, I found some simple scarf and hat knitting patterns on the internet (search for knitted snowman decorations), and created a little bobble hat and scarf for Mr. Frosty.

I hope I've inspired you to look at the light bulb in a different way.

Tuesday, 29 November 2016

I would like to share with you this Tuesday one of the
samples that I made for last Thursdays, That’s Crafty!, shows on Hochanda TV on
which That’s Crafty! launched some new fabulous designs in both acrylic and MDF
shapes for you to alter and decorate. If you missed the shows you can still
catch themHERE, show times were 5pm &
9pm just click watch the show to watch these shows.

I have used the fabulous, and my new found favourite,
acrylic Splat and stand.

Here’s What I Did:-

The
first thing is to remove the white protective cover that protects the acrylic.

I first stencilled black texture paste through the Donna Downey stencil and
allowed that to dry fully overnight. On the reverse of the acrylic I then
stencilled Dina Wakley paints through one of Tim Holtz stencils, I used Cut
& Dry Foam to apply the paint. To ensure that I got a really sharp stencil
I taped the stencil down and built the layers of paint up slowly allowing each
layer to dry fully before adding the next colour so that moving the stencil
into a different position didn’t smudge the previous stencilling. So much so I
built these up over a couple of evenings. I also added some stencilling to the
base.

I finish off by adding the same colour paints to an old paintbrush and
added it to the stand. The fact that I have added to the front and the back of
the splat the piece is given some depth.

As soon
as I saw the light bulb shape I wanted to turn it upside down and make a hot
air balloon.

I started with a coat of Gesso all over and drew around a saucer
to create a curved bottom of the balloon. Next I added a coat of the Prima Lime Peel paint to the balloon area. When
dry I laid the Harlequin stencil over the top of the balloon and dabbed lightly
with the Tinting Base. When that was dry
I went over it with the Rich Turquoise.

Next I used a ruler and black Posca pen
to draw lines between the harlequin diamonds. In order to shabby it up a little
I gave the whole a wash with watery white paint. Then I added dabs of foil
adhesive and Prima gold foil in random areas.

For the
sky in the space between the balloon and the basket I used the Prima Light
Patina.

I gave
the sky and balloon areas two coats of varnish.

For the
basket I stuck a piece of hessian onto the base of the bulb added some dabs of
Modelling paste and painted with the two brown paints.

When
the varnish was dry I went over all the drawn lines on the balloon with Glossy
Accents, sticking down a fine cord, it needs to be fairly thin so the hands can
still move. Next I wrapped cord all around the balloon and connecting the
balloon to the basket.

A final addition was the Tim Holtz Faucet Knob treated
with the Metallic Lustre.

Saturday, 26 November 2016

Donna
here today with a moth drawn to the light made with scraps of paper.

What to do:

I’m
currently getting my living room completely over hauled so part of this is
getting wallpaper samples. After you’ve chosen your wallpaper what do you do
with all the samples……use that in your art of course!! So the background for
the card is exactly that, part of a wallpaper sample.

The
moth and light bulb are newly arrived in the shop from Visible Image (aren’t
they fab) these were stamped with black Archival ink on Gelli printed paper
using Decoart media fluid paints.

Fussy
cut out both images, stamp the moth directly onto the background first as well
though as you don’t want to try and fussy cut out the legs etc!

Adhere
to the background and then go around the light bulb with a yellow Distress
marker to give a warm glow, draw a little hanging cord from the top of it too.

Lastly
add a sentiment, this one’s my own but That’s Crafty! have lots of lovely
sentiment stamps you can use too.

So
a card for you using up those scraps of paper that we all keep but never know
what to do with ;)

Friday, 25 November 2016

Hi
there, I hope you managed to catch the shows on Hochanda yesterday with the
lovely Neil demoing some fab new goodies. If you did, you might have spotted my
top hat upright, which as soon as I saw the blank, the cat in the hat popped
into my head and Bentley came out to play. This is the first side.

Recipe:

First
coat the hat and the base with a thin layer of gesso. When this is dry, add
drops of the shades of blue paint on one side only and use the brayer to spread
the paint over the hat shape.

When
the paint has dried, use the chevron stencil to apply a pattern to the surface.
I used dark blue paint to add horizontal stripes up the sides and the violet
paint to apply a vertical stripe up the centre.

Stamp
Bentley on white card together with the tiny flower from the Fleur set using
the black ink. Colour the images with pencils and blend the colours around the
edges. Cut them both out.

I
made Bentley’s hat by drawing round the hat shape on a piece of copy paper. I
then scanned the image to my computer and resized it in a photo programme. I
cut the printed image out and drew round it on white card. I went over the
image with a black Sharpie pen and drew on stripes. I then coloured some of the
stripes red. I cut the hat out.

I
added Bentley to the hat upright and gave him the hat over one ear – I think
this makes him look a little rakish. I gave the hat a floral decoration.

I
finished off with a scrap of red grosgrain ribbon to add a touch of elegance.

We
have a new challenge for you today over a That’s Crafty! Challenge Blog so
don’t forget to check it out at 8am to see how you can win a fab prize.

Thursday, 24 November 2016

We'd like to thank Wendy very much for guesting for
us in November. Its been an absolute pleasure seeing Wendy’s fabulous projects
each week.

Hello all. Well
this is my last blogpost as Guest DT for That's Crafty and I've enjoyed my time
here massively. Thanks for all of your lovely comments. It's good to see that
some of my projects have inspired some of you to try something new.

After making
lots of Christmas cards this week, I was desperate to plunge my fingers into
some gorgeous paints and just play. "So, basically, you were winging
it?" I hear you ask. Well, yes I was, but sometimes that's where the happy
accidents happen. It's important to forget being an adult and just play.

I started with
an 8x8 MDF panel from That's Crafty. I had received some scraps of sheet music
and book pages from an ATC swap so this was the perfect time to utilise them. I
glued the sheet music all over the panel using gel medium and applied it over
the top to seal it. When that had dried (with the help of my heat tool) I set
to with a selection of Dylusions paints. Starting with White Linen, I began
applying with my fingers. While it was still wet, I added Bubblegum Pink,
making sure to only swipe in horizontal or vertical directions. I must add that
using your fingers to paint is optional. I like to feel the paint on the substrate
and anyway, I'm forever chucking away ruined brushes that I'd forgotten about.

I digress.
Again. I continued painting, adding smears of Lemon Zest and Cherry Pie. When I
was happy with the overall colours, I doodled into the wet paint with the end
of a paint brush (the end that doesn't need cleaning!) There was no particular
uniformity. I just drew whatever popped into my head. Circles, obviously, and
hearts, swirls, patterns and even a house. I then used some of my handmade
stamps, cut from Speedycarve, and stamped several colours and yet more shapes
and patterns onto the paint with Archival ink. Then I stamped over it with bits
of junk, like pen tops and loo roll inners, dipped in white paint. When that
had dried, I even added the odd squiggle with a black Fude Ball pen and a white
Uni-ball Signo pen. I think that was enough background.

Now what I
needed was a good focal image and perhaps a quote. There was a large stamp of a
face in the Stamper's Anonymous Classic #5 set and also a very fitting quote -
"We Don't Stop Playing Because We Grow Old; We Grow Old Because We Stop
Playing" - I had played all day and I wasn't ready to stop. I stamped the
image onto tissue paper so that I could position it in the best place, then
'drew' around it with a wet paint brush. Only wet with water though, nothing
that needed cleaning. Using this method, the excess tissue can be gently pulled
away from the image leaving only a feathery border and no straight lines. Then
when it is glued into place, the tissue appears to vanish leaving just the
image behind. Magic! I printed the quote onto card and chopped it all up so
that I could play with it some more, finally settling on a spiral pattern which
I glued into place and sealed.

After
everything was firmly stuck down, I decided that it wasn't the right image for
the background after all. It wasn't playfully whimsical enough and today was
all about that. The best way to deal with it was to paint over the top. So I
did. Out came my trusty PaperArtsy Fresco Acrylics and with my selection of
Blush, Cheesecake, Dusty Teal, Snowflake, Very Berry and French Roast, a brand
new character was born. I hasten to add that I had to relent and use a
paintbrush, only wiping in between colours with a paper towel. I also had the
odd panicky moment, especially when I seemed to have created a scary,
orange-eyed monster! But I persevered and I finished off the fine details of
the new girl with Prismacolor pencils, then a final frenzy with Gelatos (Lemon,
Blood Orange, Red Cherry, Licorice).

What fun I had!
It was just what I needed to get back in the zone. It's nice here, isn't it?